Fears for abandoned porperties
2011-08-04
AN abandoned, dilapidated, historic Paarl house is still causing much concern amongst residents. This house in question is on Church Square, adjacent to the Strooidak Church, which was once the home of Karl Metzler. He was the third generation of his family to live there, but died childless. The original house was built in the late 1700’s and was then extended in the 1800’s. Architects say that this property is a valuable part of Paarl’s architectural heritage. But now, years after Metzler’s death at the age of 88, the house is boarded up and is slowly rotting away. Metzler made the headlines in 1999, when he was attacked in his house, severely beaten, robbed and left for dead. He was left with brain damage, and due to this, started suffering from epileptic fits. In 2004, an almost blind Metzler could no longer live on his own, and then lived at Rusoord until his death. After the brutal attack on him, he was treated by psychiatrist Dr Madelene Kellerman, to whom he left the house in his will. Kellerman lives and works in Canada. And in the meantime, the Metzler house stands forlorn, a ghost house in an overgrown garden. Various concerned conservationists have through the years been inquiring into the future of the house, but to no avail. The house has sustained amongst others much water damage due to a serverely leaking roof, as well as the presence of vagrants and vandals. But recently there was hope for the building, when contractors were assigned by Kellerman to have the roof replaced and the property securely fenced. Pat Hart, a member of the Drakenstein Heritage Foundation, said that this was a positive sign, but that he was afraid that severe rot had already set in inside the building and that the woodwork would be beyond repair if not seen to soon. “The house has a lot of wood inside, including ceilings and floors, and this will now be in a severe state of rot. “The new roof is a step in the right direction, but we would like to see the house re-novavated before it is too late.” According to Hart there are municipal by-laws in place to deal with those who allow such properties to deteriorate, but these are not applied. “Just look at the house on the corner of Loop and Derksen Streets, which has deteriorated beyond repair. “The owner of this house wants to develop the property and has purposely allowed it to deteriorate.” It is feared that if renovations are not done to the Metzler house soon, it will follow suit and pave the way for developers to move in. * The City of Cape Town has a by-law in place, the Problem Building By-law, which helps the City identify and manage dilapiproblem buildings. These are properties that contravene national building regulations, are overcrowded or in a deplorable state, are the subject of numerous complaints from the public, are invaded by illegal squatters or pose a serious health or safety risk in terms of national building regulations. If property owners are found to be in contravention of this by-law, the City will step in and long-term solutions include the forced restoration, redevelopment or even disposal of the problem property.
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